Unveiling Embodied White Supremacy: Therapists’ Experiences and Its Imprint on Therapeutic Relationships in Dance/Movement Therapy

Abstract

This qualitative, arts-informed research study explored how White-identifying dance/movement therapists experience and articulate their awareness of embodied White supremacy within therapeutic relationships. Grounded in critical race theory, relational-cultural theory, and embodied critical transformation theory, the study addressed a gap in dance/movement therapy literature concerning how White supremacy is not only cognitively understood, but also somatically felt, relationally enacted, and professionally navigated. The purpose of the study was to understand how White-identifying dance/movement therapists perceive, kinesthetically experience, and make meaning of embodied White supremacy in therapeutic practice, and to explore how these embodied experiences influence therapeutic presence, attunement, and the potential for growth-fostering relationships. Using Sensory Creative Inquiry, an arts-informed qualitative method developed for this research, four White-identifying dance/movement therapists participated in a multi-phase process. Reflexive Thematic Analysis guided the analytic process. Five themes were generated through this analysis: (1) Recognition of Embodied White Supremacy, (2) Internal Conflict and Emotional Responses to Engaging with Embodied White Supremacy, (3) Relational Reorientation in Professional and Interpersonal Contexts, (4) Metaphorical and Visual Representation of Embodied Experience, and (5) Emergent Pathways Toward Change and Action. Findings suggested that embodied White supremacy was experienced as relational, emotional, institutional, and somatic, often expressed through tension, constriction, vigilance, fragmentation, and discomfort, while also prompting accountability, relational awareness, and movement toward change. This study contributes to dance/movement therapy scholarship by making visible the embodied and relational dimensions of White supremacy in clinical practice and by offering an arts-informed approach to critical inquiry, reflection, and transformation